KINGSLAND - Within two days after the Kingsland City Council approved a resolution allowing the mayor to apply for a grant help build an amphitheater at Kingsland Heritage Park, the entire project now seems to be on hold.
Kickstart Kingsland, the grassroots volunteer group that is spearheading the project, put out a statement on its Facebook page Sunday stating that not only has the amphitheater project been put on hold, but so has the proposed Get Rhythm Music Festival scheduled for September as well as the pageant that was going to be part of the festival.
In a special called meeting of the Kingsland City Council last Thursday, the council approved by a 3-1 vote a resolution supporting a grant application for money to help build the amphitheater. Council members Suny Blair, Linda Burns and Lee Penister voted in favor of the resolution while councilman Keith Spencer voted against it.
Resolution 2026-07 allows Mayor Samantha Johnson to apply for a 50 percent matching grant through the Arkansas Rural Community Grant Program.
The resolution stated that the city had $6,850 to put toward the match, and was requesting a match from Arkansas Rural Communities. When the resolution was read, some in the audience asked where the money for the match was coming from. Johnson said it was from Kickstart Kingsland funds and an online Go Fund Me campaign.
In the wake of that action, Kickstart Kingsland posted on its Facebook page that it met Sunday and decided to postpone the proposed amphitheater project, the festival and the pageant. In addition, volunteer meetings that were scheduled in association with those projects were canceled as well.
This move comes less than a month after Johnson and other city and council officials held a groundbreaking ceremony on July 18 at Kingsland Heritage Park to commemorate the start of the amphitheater project.
Here is the Facebook post made by Kickstart Kingsland on Sunday:
“Kickstart Kingsland held a board meeting today, and after careful discus…